This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.This material reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Case Studies

Case Studies

The project dealt with the history of Tallinn and Tallinn as Cultural Capital 2011; 15 students from Tallinna Õismäe Gümnaasium and 15 students from Humboldt-Schule Berlin as well as their teachers participated in the process of developing the questions on the project theme. The students read texts on country study in German lessons and during the class exchange. Estonian pupils prepared and organised a guided tour for the German pupils. From these texts, 300 thematic words and phrases were selected and inserted in a German-Estonian mini-dictionary. The dictionary became very popular among pupils. The dictionary gives the explanation of terms concerning linguistics as well as history. This dictionary can be successfully used in German classes.

According to Jaan Oispuu (developmnent rector at Tallinn Oismae Gymnasium)Tallinn Õismäe Gymnasium has a long experience in co-operation with Berlin Humboldt-Gymnasium (since 1989) and in advanced German teaching. Our pupils can learn different foreign languages: English, German, Russian, French, Finnish. In 2011 Tallinn was one of the cultural capitals in Europe. The choice of the aim depended on that fact.

Objectives

- to integrate foreign language teaching (German) with other subjects (Estonian, history, culture, art, infotechnology);
- to practise different methods of the open-air learning;
- to develop the IT-skills of the pupils; - to learn advanced German lexic concerning with history and culture;
- to learn the history of Tallinn and to present it to the German pupils.

Approach

The project consisted of two parts: 1) four Internet online-competitions Who? When? Where? between German and Estonian pupils (15 and 15 pupils) during five month; 2) a visit of the pupils from Berlin in Tallinn in May 2011. In September the Estonian pupils will visit Berlin. The aim of the 8-days visit will be the same but opposite: the Estonian pupils will learn the history of Berlin. The pupils use their knowledge and skills in communication in their everyday life.

Results

Good knowledge in the history and culture of Tallinn – the cultural capital of Europe 2011; bilingual Estonian-German vocabulary (about 300 words) of culture.

THE NELLIP NETWORK’S PERSPECTIVE

Consistency with European Policies in the field of Language Learning

promoting German language learning through learning German culture and taking part in student exchange programme

Consistency with European, National and yearly priorities

inovative, modern and learner-friendly method of promoting different cultures through language teaching

THE NATIONAL AGENCY’S PERSPECTIVE

Motivations

According to Made Kirtsi (Head of General Education Unit of the Centre for Educational Programs at Archimedes Foundation)the number of learners of German is decreasing and any promotion of learning other languages beside English is worth of recognition. The project theme fitted in the celebration of European Culture capital Tallinn activities.

An audio- video presentation of the NELLIP project has been created and made available in the Information section of the NELLIP portal. To access the presentation please click here: http://nellip.pixel-online.org/IF_intro.php.